Here Are the Craziest Things America Will Drop on New Year's Eve

Possums have it rough.

Heidi, a cross-eyed opossum, lives in Germany and will therefore be spared this New Year's.(JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)

Americans are really into dropping stuff. And what better way to ring out 2013 and welcome 2014 than by tossing a possum or two?

This goes deeper than Ryan Seacrest and a giant sparkling ball slowly falling in the middle of New York City's Times Square hell-pit. All around the country, towns are getting ready to drop some really, truly bizarre stuff.

Here are some of the highlights.

Animals, Real and Imagined

Tallapoosa, Ga., will be dropping the traditional stuffed possum at midnight. It's name is Spencer, and PETA isn't a big fan of the endeavor.

After a North Carolina judge decided to let the event proceed despite PETA's protests, a captured possum in a plastic box will drop in Brasstown at midnight. This live possum drop has happened every year for two decades.

Marshall P. Muskrat, who is a stuffed muskrat, will soar over downtown Princess Anne, Md., on a zip line at midnight.

Chuck, a 6-foot-tall fake chicken, will drop in Delta, Ohio, at midnight. "We couldn't do a live one," says Mabel Hudson, a committee chairman. "We would have had PETA out here."

A giant fake sardine will drop from a building in downtown Eastport, Maine.

Foodstuffs and Fruit

A bit earlier in the evening, a doughnut will drop in Hagerstown, Md.'s public square.

Miami will do something of a reverse drop, sending its "Big Orange" up the city's Hotel InterContinental.

A pineapple will drop in Sarasota, Fla. Catch video of a recent drop here.

A giant peanut M&M and a giant peach will drop in Atlanta. Why an M&M? Because not even the wholesome New Year's holiday drop can escape corporate sponsorship.

Here's a particularly fun event: Vincennes, Ind., will drop 14 watermelons at midnight, with "entertainment" from "comedian" Gallagher who is known as being funny for smashing watermelons with a mallet. Before the drop, there will be a Gallagher look-alike contest.

A massive, glowing pickle will drop before midnight in Mount Olive, N.C.

A giant, foam potato will drop in Boise, Idaho. The potato cost $10,000 to make.

If that's not enough for you, there are always your nonfood, nonanimal options. Like in Key West, Fla., where a drag queen named Sushi will drop while sitting inside of a very large shoe. Happy New Year!